Town Tamers Read Online Free PDF

returned to the bar, he was waiting. Careful not to be overheard, she quietly said, “You’ll give it away, consarn you.”
    “Look at you,” Byron said. “Prancing around like you give it away.”
    “Now, now,” Noona said. “The smart doves sell it. They never do it for free.”
    “That’s not even a little bit funny.”
    “To me it is.”
    Someone bellowed for Scotch, and Byron turned to the shelves and selected a bottle. When he turned back, he said, “You never take this seriously enough.”
    “Not that again.” Noona grinned mischievously. “Besides, you’re here, aren’t you? What do I have to worry about?”
    “I’m not him.”
    “He’s arrived, you know, today on the stage. I saw him get off.”
    “Then it could start tonight.”
    “Could,” Noona said.
    Byron went to say something but glanced sharply at the batwings and visibly tensed. “Watch yourself,” he said.
    Noona turned.
    Two cowboys had entered. Dusty from their long ride, they both wore Stetsons, chaps, and spurs. One was short and flinty-eyed and had a Colt high on his hip. The other was a rake handle whose upper lip drooped over the lower as if about to fall off.
    “Circle K?” Noona said.
    Byron nodded. “The rooster is Jake Bass. He shot the last girl who worked here in the leg and shot a townswoman dead the other night.”
    “And you wonder why I do this?”
    “The other one is called Crusty. He looks harmless, but I’ve asked around and they say he does his share of the killing, rustling, and robbing.”
    “They’ve seen me.” Noona casually placed a hand on her hip and contrived to thrust out her bosom. “Look at them. Their eyes are fit to bug out.”
    “Be careful,” Byron said. “Be very careful.”
    “He taught me, didn’t he?”
    The man who had bellowed for a Scotch bellowed again, and Byron reluctantly moved around the end of the bar and went over to a poker table.
    Noona leaned her elbow on the counter and bestowed her most charming smile as the punchers approached. Jake Bass was ogling her, but Crusty hung back a step, acting nervous. “What have we here?” she greeted them.
    “I was about to ask the same thing, gorgeous,” Jake Bass said. He came uncomfortably close and raked her up and down with pure lust in his eyes. “Ain’t you a sight.”
    “I am?” Noona said innocently.
    “You’re right pretty, ma’am,” Crusty said.
    “Where did you come from?” Jake Bass asked.
    “My ma’s womb.”
    Jake Bass cackled and Crusty giggled and Jake said, “How much for a poke?”
    “You get right to it,” Noona said.
    “Gal, it’s been a coon’s age, and I ain’t one to beat around the bush.”
    “From what I hear tell,” Noona said, “you put lead in them, too.”
    Jake’s cheeks colored. “Someone has been talkin’ out of school.”
    “Well, you did shoot Lavender,” Crusty said. “This new one was bound to hear.”
    Jake Bass glared at him, and Crusty took a step back. Then Jake gripped Noona’s arm and said, “I asked how much. And I don’t mean tomorrow.”
    “Take your hand off.”
    “Don’t prod me, bitch. You make me mad and you won’t like what happens.”
    Noona knew she shouldn’t provoke him, but she swatted his hand off her arm and jabbed him in the chest. “
I
decide who does and who doesn’t, and they have to be a gentleman about it.”
    “Is there a problem here?”
    Byron had come up unnoticed and was holding an empty bottle by the neck.
    “Butt out, poet boy,” Jake Bass said.
    “Yeah, butt out,” Crusty said.
    “Mr. Tandy left specific instructions,” Byron said. “I’m to look after her and see that she doesn’t come to harm like the last one did.”
    Jake Bass faced him, and his hand moved to within a whisker’s width of his Colt. “When I tell someone to butt out, they damn well better.”
    “It’s my job,” Byron said.
    “It can be your funeral, too.”
    “Tend to the drinks and leave us be,” Crusty said. “Or else.”
    Noona